A fleeeeeting touch of Jamie Oliver at Jamie’s Italian Restaurant in Singapore

July 4, 2015 Not Your Typical Tourist

Social media has its merits, it exposes one to current happenings. There were many times that I found out about new restaurants opening, events, etc via social media.

Jamie’s Italian Kitchen was ‘discovered’ exactly this way. I saw it on a friend’s Facebook and lo and behold, here I am trying it out.

More celebrity chefs are making inroads in local food scenes, no thanks to reality cooking programmes like MasterChef, Top Chef, My Kitchen Rules, etc. Aren’t chefs here to cook? Naaa … more and more of them are here ‘selling’ their names, labelled ‘celebrity chef.’ A lot of them are helped by their look, whether they are boyish-looking, rugged-looking, etc.

The thing about these celebrity-chef-branded restaurants .. who are we kidding? It’s just in the name; not the Chef himself cooking, but some Tom, Dick and Harry. Since it is Jamie’s Italian Restaurant in Singapore, let’s say it’s Ali, Muthu and Ah Beng behind your plate of food. These local chefs were merely following a recipe, no? How many times have we followed so-and-so recipe, but the food tastes not that impressive.

Since I’ve not been to a celebrity-chef-branded restaurant before, so here I go on a Friday night with my two ex-teammates who are now working in Singapore.

“No expectations, no disappointment” holds true. Since I did not set high expectations, I wasn’t disappointed as per se. Just this one time, and no more repeat visit for me.

It is a limited menu to begin with. Soup and pizza are not in the menu. Pasta is the closest to Italian cuisine in the menu, so it was a ‘must order’ for us. We chose Tagliatelle bolognese (SGD 22, large size), and it was such a let down. We then ordered Cured Meats (SGD 15.50, one portion) and Cured & Crispy Fish (SGD 17.00, one portion) and these were served on a plank. I have really tasted better cured meats, so I wasn’t wowed by it. Only one of us really enjoyed Crispy Squid (SGD 12, small size). Posh Chips (SGD 7.50), with truffle oil and parmesan was the only one dish that got seal of approval from our group.

Unintentionally, I got a HarbourFront Centre and Vivo City tourist privilege card at VivoCity’s Customer Service Counter. We enjoyed a free dessert with purchase of one main course or a large pasta with the card. So, our tiramisu (SGD 11.50) was complimentary. It’s a coffee-flavoured trifle with orange mascarpone and chocolate. We didn’t enjoy the tiramisu much, so good that it was FOC.

Total damage: SGD 87.90 for 3 pax.

If you would like to give it a try, it is wise to make online reservation. Otherwise, be prepared for long wait especially during peak hours. My friend did the necessary, and we had to go with 8:00PM as 7:30PM reservation was already full.